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INVITATION How do we help students utilize technology to explore the environment outside of their own atmosphere? How do students show competencies in designing, developing, publishing, and presenting technology that demonstrates and communicates curriculum concepts to audiences inside and outside of the classroom? How do we motivate students to select appropriate tools and technology resources to accomplish a variety of tasks? |
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TASKS Students use technology to show data and analysis of past and present space-related topics focusing primarily on "space junk" (any human-created item "floating" around in space as aftermath of exploration). Much of the interaction may involve real-time analysis in conjunction with present space programs and presented in a persuasive slideshow or interactive project. |
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TOOLS Computers; the Internet; Sherlock. AppleWorks; Director Academic; Inspiration; QuickTime Pro; Final Cut Pro (optional). The Archives of History (optional). |
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INTERACTIONS Students meet as a group and discuss with the teacher what components are important to an outstanding persuasive multimedia presentation. The students review examples from CDs, the Internet, or previous classes. After students have an understanding of good persuasive presentations, the teacher divides the students into pairs, with one student creating a persuasive presentation on the pro side of the debate and the other student creating a persuasive presentation for the con side. Students work independently to build their own presentation. When students have finished each presentation, the class meets as a group and each student presents his/her presentation. After each student in the pair has presented, a selected jury of parents, faculty members, or classmates rule for either the pro or the con side. |
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STANDARDS To identify the curriculum standards for your state that correlate to this student project, select the state in the popup menu below and then click the Go button. View Detailed Standards in |
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SITUATIONS Students work in the classroom, computer lab, media center, and community. The initial project, including class discussion time and development, will last two weeks. The teacher needs to set a time limit for each presentation and schedule classroom time for pairs to present their project. Prior student knowledge of the software used to create the portfolio will significantly cut down on project time. |
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ASSESSMENT The teacher assesses group work according to the use of multiple technology resources and the integration of technology tools in research and development of the final project. Individual assessment can focus on knowledge gained from research and presentation. Rubrics are also created to measure quality of research and project development. |
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Students create persuasive slideshows or interactive projects that focus on the research and discovery of the world of space beyond the earth's atmosphere. Much of the focus may tie into current space discoveries and/or projects. An area of interest for debate purposes is a study on the amount of "space junk" or debris that is left in the wake of space exploration. Students can approach this project from a positive or negative view of space exploration. As each individual or group researches the topic, it may be helpful to create student data folders for storage, both shared and private. Students researching a particular side of the argument can also develop research for or against their chosen topic, allowing for shared research between individual students and groups. Students can approach the project individually or work in a group. If students decide to work in a group, the area of "space junk" research can be divided with each student responsible for a particular section of research and development of the project. |
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Phase 1: Investigating options Students begin by using the RapidFire feature of Inspiration to brainstorm possible topics for research. Once the topics have been decided, students can again use RapidFire to break down topics into more manageable subtopics. Once both topics and subtopics have been determined, a student or group outline in Inspiration will serve as the research structure. |
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Phase 2: Information gathering Ask students to decide which portion of the final topic they want to be responsible for. Suggest strongly that students have a focus for their research and data collection, rather than turning them loose for unfocused Internet research. Breaking down the topic of space junk into specific categories such as human-made, natural, amount, probabilities, history, statistics, and so on will help students begin a structured research base. You may want to precede this phase with a discussion about using Sherlock to search the Internet. Again, as students develop their groups and determine which member will investigate which area, consider setting up data collection folders for student use. These folders can be set up by groups and then subdivided into area specifics, and can also be used as general drop folders for information sharing between students and groups. You can do this by designating a specific computer as a file sharing volume or using AppleShare servers for increased research organization and development. |
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Phase 3: Storyboard planning Once the data has been gathered, sorted, and analyzed for relevancy, students begin the organization of the project. Students need to decide what type of project they want to create and how much time needs to be set aside to complete the project. Students may want to create an AppleWorks slideshow as their presentation method. This method involves presentation only, with interaction being limited to questions and answers. Other ideas include an interactive project done in Director Academic. Projects in this particular program can involve direct interaction between the user and the finished product. An interactive space junk tour, complete with historical and factual content, might serve as the integration tool. This type of project might involve pictures, sounds, QuickTime movies, historical documentation and media, games, and other interactive elements. After they decide how they want to present their projects, students need to plan a storyboard of topics and subtopics and their relationship to each other. A template or templates can be developed for everyone to follow to help ensure consistency within the project itself. This template could be created in Inspiration or AppleWorks. Students should also consider the overall and file size of each of the categories. Balance is an integral portion of the entire presentation. |
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Phase 4: Project integration Templates for student group work are essential for the development of topic synthesis. Students should develop a relationship in the technology tools used to develop the project. Director Academic gives students the opportunity to develop a highly sophisticated interactive project but will hold little value if similarities in subtopics do not occur. Students need to discuss the integration of subtopics with the overall expected outcome of the final project. Questions should be asked and answered within the group: How will our navigation buttons work? Will the user have the option of visiting any one of the Director Academic pages from each page? What will the navigation and organization look like? Will it be a one-way linear project? Two-way linear? Spoke? Block? Once students agree on an interactive map, the project can begin to take form. Please refer to the "Multimedia Design Template" included in this kit. |
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Phase 5: Keeping development on track It is important that a timeline for expected outcomes be established. Students need to know where they should be at what point in time relative to the overall expected project. If the project involves a group of five students, what is the timeline for each student to finish a particular section? This is a possible area for assessment, as you may want to assign a grade for work finished. The timeline will vary depending on the expected outcome of both teacher and student group but published dates will help keep students focused and productive. A project rubric should be developed before the project begins and handed out to students. The rubric should include all expectations and length of time needed to develop particular phases of the final project. Teachers may need to adjust deadlines to allow for growth and development of individual and group projects. |
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PREPARATION
Make sure students are comfortable with the software used in this project. Discussions of brainstorming with Inspiration should be an early source for technology integration followed by discussions of specific software development. Consider using the NASA Web sites for real-time integration. Much of the NASA education staff is devoted to classroom project integration and may be willing to provide many materials and research. Consider QuickTime streaming with any of the NASA projects during the time of the scheduled projects. Check out the NASA Web site headquarters for any information or media that will motivate students to want to research space. There may be QuickTime streamed videos for class presentation or space junk videos to serve as information gathering and project stimulation. |
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OPTIONS AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
This project may be large enough to gather local sponsors or community businesses to lend a supporting hand. Involving community in strong interactive multimedia may benefit the sources available and give students the opportunity to work and research within their own community. If the presentations will be shown via a projector connected to a computer, make sure students have gone through the presentation and that all equipment is working before the actual presentation. Suggest that students rehearse their presentation before the actual show. This will give them a chance to catch their own project glitches and give them time to familiarize themselves with the presentation equipment. |
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 BOOKS Junk in Space by Richard Maurer Our Future in Space by Don Berliner Space Junk by Erik A. Dewey Space Junk: Pollution Beyond the Earth by Judy Donnelly Voyage to the Milky Way: The Future of Space Exploration by Donald Goldsmith |
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INTERNET RESOURCES
NASA Homepage NASA: Office of University Programs Tracking Space Junk The Danger of Space Junk Space Junk Space on EXN.ca Space Junk Russell D. Hoffman Discusses SPACE DEBRIS Links to Unmanned Spacecraft and Satellites CNN Technology: Space |
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